To the Top of the Fortress
by I.C. Weener
Summary: Oh cool Tieria is doing his thingie again.


" _I will give you power."_

\- Tifa Adill, Gundam X

" _My steed is vicious."_

\- Shagia Frost, Gundam X

" _I STILL HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN TO REPAY HIM."_

\- Kei Ayamine, Muv-Luv Alternative

* * *

Link never imagined himself hiding behind a row of battlements for the final battle, but here he was now. From the massive Divine Beast's viewing deck he could see the entire sky covered in fire and purple clouds. His world slowly swayed from side to side as the Beast walked out of the forest under her pilot's command, harmlessly brushing over thousands of treetops as if they were only tall blades of grass.

Calamity Ganon was swirling over the ruins in the distance. Three of the other Champions had already taken their places in Hyrule's corners, hundreds of miles apart from each other. A tiny golden-haired speck was standing by herself at the foot of the castle, ready to weave her sealing spells when the moment was right.

The first Divine Beast beam fired from Vah Naboris. Calamity Ganon hardly seemed bothered by the attack even as it struck him with a constant steady ray.

Mipha was standing quietly beside Link. She had no right to pilot this Beast herself, but she could help the machine's Champion learn her controls. They were riding in Divine Beast Vah Riasa, a final weapon meant only for the Hero of Legend.

The past week had been nothing but tragedy and disaster. Calamity Ganon had surpassed everyone's wildest fears when he suddenly resurrected and instantly turned the Divine Beasts and Guardians against their masters. Few in the city lived through the rampage of the haywire Guardians. Daruk, Urbosa, and Revali had been able to destroy the Blights and stop their rampaging Divine Beasts on their own… barely. Mipha had needed a little extra help.

Link had thought it odd when he fled to Vah Ruta amidst the chaos and only found Waterblight Ganon waiting for him in an empty sanctum. The instant he cut the Waterblight down, Mipha had arrived from seemingly out of nowhere thanking him for saving her. She had skirted around explaining where she had been, but he didn't worry about it for long. All that mattered was she was safe, and she was the only one who could help him in times as bleak as these. She had probably just done the smart thing and hid behind one of Ruta's temple columns until Link arrived, the same way she would panic and hide behind a rock any time someone told her there was a Lynel nearby back when they were children.

Those who had survived the initial slaughter at the castle regrouped in tiny settlements outside the city and began looking for another way to stop the Calamity. Cleansing the Divine Beasts of their Blights had simply made them go dormant again. They still needed a way to restore control over them and the corrupt Guardians.

It was either Robbie or Purah who had found the first clue. It was buried in a heap of dusty Sheikah scriptures thought to be academically worthless in the previous days. They spoke in vague riddles of something that could have been an undiscovered fifth Divine Beast. Most of the old tablets were worn away and sounded like gibberish, but one prophecy kept reappearing.

" _Return to the Forest."_

After a day of endless searching and digging, they found Divine Beast Vah Riasa buried deep under a hill hidden in the Lost Woods. It was as if the forest itself knew they needed its help and it had revealed a secret path.

The ancient Sheikah had built Riasa to resemble a giant fortified horse. Unlike any other Divine Beast, she lacked any long-range weapons and instead wielded a giant blade fixed to her head like a horn. Her control pedestal was a raised carved block that only accepted the Master Sword as its activation key. It was how Zelda and her followers instantly knew she was only meant to be piloted by Link, and it explained why the miraculous Beast had been left untouched by Ganon's corruption.

When the Master Sword was in place, Riasa would come to life and her horn would glow bright blue as an amplified extension of the Sword's power. The entire blade rested into the pedestal when it was in use, turning the hilt into a type of control stick. When Link would remove the blade, Riasa would turn back into a motionless statue and her horn would turn dull.

But her greatest ability was the Master Lock. Combining the functions of the Master Sword with the Sheikah Slate, Riasa's horn would send out a signal that reached every corner of the realm to instantly shut down and reconfigure all other Sheikah machines. Once Link had activated Riasa for the first time, the other Champions could finally regain control of their rightful Divine Beasts, and the Guardians were turned back against Ganon's ground forces.

The only thing left was to destroy Calamity Ganon. The time for grieving would come once the war was over.

The ruined castle grew larger in Link's vision. Riasa was out of the woods and almost in attack range.

The second Divine Beast beam fired from Vah Medoh. Ganon slowly retreated back into the black clouds, before wrenching open his snout and screaming through the sky in defiance.

Mipha pointed in the direction Link should to steer. She brushed her hands across the shoulder scales of his Zora armor to guide how he needed to move his arms. It wasn't usual for two pilots to be in the same Divine Beast, but they were dealing with an emergency and all of Zelda's researchers had agreed Mipha was the best pilot on the team. It would have to be her who taught Link the basics of controlling a Divine Beast in the middle of the crisis. The other Champions had spent a year preparing to ride theirs into war. Link had only a day.

The third Divine Beast beam fired from Vah Rudania. Calamity Ganon quivered in the sky over the castle, snarling in anger as he tried to escape the bright blue rays.

Vah Riasa stopped once she was in attack range. Mipha looked over and noticed how nervous Link was getting, even if he was trying to hide it. He was trained to be a soldier fighting on the battlefield, not a pilot stuck in the control room of an ancient machine. This desperate gamble depended entirely on him, and she could see the doubt lingering in his eyes.

Mipha gently placed her hand over his as he clutched the Master Sword hilt. He turned his eyes toward hers and became lost in her serene smile. They stood there for several minutes simply looking at each other, silently offering one another their support. How they both wished this moment could last forever.

" _We're just holding the trail of your gown for you over here, your majesty,"_ Revali sarcastically gibed through the Sheikah Slate's receiver. _"You're free to flip your fins into position whenever you're ready."_

Link broke out of his reverie and chuckled at the Rito Champion's familiar voice. Clearing his mind, he gripped his fist tightly around Vah Riasa's control hilt.

"Do you think you can handle everything by yourself from here?" Mipha asked from his side, backing away from him slightly.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod as a relieved smile crept across his face. He looked up at the purple thunderclouds without a fearful nerve in him. It was hard to believe that after the past week of horror, it was all about to be over.

"Then I guess I should be leaving," Mipha said innocently.

Link replied to her with a quick "Sure!" He lifted the Sheikah Slate out of his belt and opened the travel map. Scrolling to Southeastern Hyrule, he highlighted the icon for Vah Ruta as a warp destination. He would just need Mipha's life signals to send her on her way.

When he looked back up, he saw the green candle flames beginning to twinkle around her.

For a second, Link forgot how to speak.

" _I'm sorry. I tried to fight Ganon as long as I could,"_ Mipha's spirit said in a forlorn voice. _"I couldn't let him use Ruta to hurt anyone, but I… I'm sorry I didn't tell any of you sooner. I was afraid you would give up if you knew. You can explain it to Zelda and the others when this is all over."_

Link shook his head in denial. He stepped away from the Master Sword's hilt as he pleaded desperately.

"Mipha, wait! You can't go!"

" _I have to_ ," she said quietly, her ghostly apparition slowly disappearing. " _Ruta and I have our roles to fulfill, just as you and Riasa. Even if I can't be with you, I'll still support you in spirit._ "

Link squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see her like she was. He wept uncontrollably and pounded his fist against Riasa's stone console as she tried to comfort him with her words. Her voice was only a faint whisper as she disappeared into the air.

" _Please, Link. Don't let this all go to waste_."

The last of her flames flickered away completely.

The Hylian Champion collapsed to his knees in the ancient leaves littering Riasa's sanctum floor. He doubled over like he was ready to wretch as his tears rained down on the dry earthy parchment. In that brief moment, he felt like he had no reason left to fight.

The fourth Divine Beast beam fired from Vah Ruta. The bright beacon drew Link's eyes back up to the sky.

Calamity Ganon squealed in agony, struggling to overcome the combined might of the Divine Beasts. The monster was encumbered, distracted, and open for attack. All that was left was for the Hero of Legend to face him in the climactic battle.

Link climbed back up to his feet with his breath shivering and his teeth gritting. He looked through the temple windows and toward the haze swirling above the castle. Calamity Ganon had killed the king and so many others, but it was the first time he realized just how much the monster had taken from him. His emotions reached their boiling point.

He screamed in rage as he throttled the Master Sword forward. Tears flew from his eyes with the same blue shimmer as Riasa's exhaust flares.

The towering stone mare dashed across Central Hyrule in a lightning gallop, calling out to her four Divine siblings with a wild neigh. Link kept her head pointed low with her gleaming horn pointed straight out, working the controls half on instinct and half on what he'd learned from his teacher. Throwing all of his emotions forward, he aimed straight for Calamity Ganon's swirling clouds.

* * *

 _Author's note: I was going to have her phase out echoing that Ilia line from Twilight Princess where she's telling Link to take care of Epona since she's a still a girl like Ilia, except in Mipha's case she's talking about the giant robot. It felt out of place every way I tried to wrote it tho.  
_


End file.
